


Fr+Eng Talking about the 1800s

by ferix79



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 1800s, Fanfic as school work, Gen, Historical, Ireland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-12
Updated: 2011-04-12
Packaged: 2017-11-16 03:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferix79/pseuds/ferix79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An assignment I did for my Western Civ class. The prompt was to discuss the shifting in political thought that occurred in the late 1800s. Most people just write out a small essay, but our professor allows us to do the assignment any way we want.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fr+Eng Talking about the 1800s

A loud bang resonated throughout the room as the door was shoved open. A man with short, sandy blonde hair stalked into the room, his coattails flapping behind him, and flung the curtains of the only window in the room open, letting the hot, stale summer air flow into the room.   
  
"Bloody hell, just has to be so dammed hot all the time…" he mumbled to himself, reaching up to unbutton the tight collar of his shirt.  
  
The door opened again, but this time much more gently. Calm, slow footsteps echoed off the tile, and the other man snapped his head to the sound.   
  
"What do you want, France?" he asked, his voice monotone and uninterested. He began fanning himself with his hand.   
  
The other man, his shoulder-length blonde hair drawn back with a ribbon, chuckled, seated himself gracefully on a sofa and crossed one leg over another. "You sound so distraught, England. I was only wondering what was troubling you, my oldest and most hated friend. " England could hear the smirk in the other man's voice, but ignored it.   
  
"It's my brother, Ireland. He's all up in arms about his 'home rule' and 'nationalism', " England threw his arms up to emphasize his point, "Everything is a mess! Those idiots in Parliament have not a clue what to do, but then again they wouldn't be able to find a solution if it came up and bit them in the arse." He huffed, turning back to the window and unbuttoning his coat farther.   
  
"It sounds like he's thinking about revolution, to me…"   
  
"Oh spare me," England whipped back around, glaring at France, "Just because you can't hold a steady government for more than a few decades doesn't mean you should run around igniting other people's lives. Revolution…bah! It never brings any good."   
  
"Au contraire, England, it has brought much change to my people, both in 1789 and in 1848." France asserted, "My citizens have universal male suffrage, you know, and fair elections, too."   
  
"Yes, but my men, too, have suffrage, and I managed to accomplish that in 1867 without slaughtering anyone." was England's biting reply. He turned to the window again, sighing, and the two fell into silence.   
  
"How did we get here, France?" England suddenly asked, his voice barely audible above the noise drifting up from the street below.   
  
The Frenchman cocked his head. "Here? What do you mean, here?"   
  
"I mean to this time. It's 1913 already, goodness, where does the time go…" England shook his head, resting both hands on the windowsill and gazing out onto the city.   
  
"Well, I would suppose it all started with my revolution in 1848. The people got what they were asking for—the right to vote, the right to work— even though not everything turned out perfectly." France offered, trying to shrug off the less glorious times of his history. The bloody June Days, though long gone, were never a happy memory.  
  
"Yes, and the Industrial Revolution contributed to it, somewhat," England turned, crossing his arms and leaning back against a nearby wall, "what with more people working, the labour unions began to grow larger and larger, and the political parties followed suit." France nodded in agreement.   
  
"And then came imperialism," England said with a satisfied smirk, waltzing over to an exotic and colorful armchair and seating himself, "Or the 'second wave' of it, anyway. Now that's something that has always treated me well—imperialism and colonialism."   
  
"Except in 1776," France said with a smirk, "And in India, and in Africa…"  
  
"Oh belt up. I've quelled any rebellion that has come my way. In India and Africa"  
  
"But not in—"  
  
"It's not as if I needed that runt, anyway." England crossed his arms again, and France laughed.   
  
"If you say so, England." He shook his head.   
  
"Come off it, will you? Don't you know that the brat went and threw himself into a civil war? Hundreds of thousands dead, and the economy of the South was in shambles." the Englishman persisted, and the man opposite him nodded.   
  
"Yes, yes, deny it all you will, but back to the point. Increased nationalism all over Europe led to unification, did it not? Germany and Italy became real nations because of it."  
  
"Oh, yes, Prussia's younger brother…he has quite the socialist movement, doesn't he?" England asked, leaning his head against his palm. The combination of long Parliamentary meetings and talking to France could be quite tiring.   
  
"The German Social Democratic Party, or SDP. He's a smart boy, that Germany. Turning to socialism may have been a good choice for him. It's certainly what the people wanted." The Frenchman put a finger to his chin.   
  
"You're not bitter from the Franco-Prussian war?"  
  
"Oh, no, I am very much, but I try to put the past behind me. It's been nearly forty years since then, anyway."  
England hummed, agreeing. "Forty years isn't so long to you or I, though." France only shrugged. "Well, at least Germany was unified because of it."   
  
The two fell into a comfortable silence, England running his hand across the exquisite armchair he sat in. It had been imported from India—one of the many prizes of his and his citizen's conquests.   
  
"Do you happen to know anything of Russia?" France suddenly asked, "I haven't heard from him in years."   
  
England shook his head. "I don't think anyone has, ever since 1905 and that whole Bloody Sunday fiasco. His new Tsars—the ones that came after Alexander II—have effectively shut him off from Western Europe. And there was this group of revolutionaries…the Bolsheviks, if I am not mistaken? They helped the people fight the Tsar, but in the end Nicholas II just made empty promises to placate the masses. That whole nation is teetering on a fine thread." England stood, stretching until his back cracked, "Ah…I'm getting too old for this, I'm telling you."   
  
France chuckled, standing with him. "We all are, England, we all are. But now back to Parliament for you, it seems?"   
  
"Yes, sadly," the two moved towards the exit, pulling open the grand doors of the parlor they had been conversing in.   
  
"Do you know what I heard the other day?" England asked as they made their way through the hallways of the Houses of Parliament and France turned to look at him, "I heard that a woman—Wilding something or other—threw herself right in front of the king's horse at a derby just a few days ago. Poor girl was trampled to death."   
  
"One can only feel so much pity for her if she did that of her own volition, though." France answered, looking back down the hallway and clasping his hands behind his back.   
  
"I suppose so. I was told she martyred herself for woman's suffrage. What an act! I'm not too sure how I feel about it myself—women in politics, that is. All of my citizens have conflicting opinions, so it's troublesome to pick a side…" England let his head drop into his hands with a sigh, "Another issue to worry over, I suppose."   
  
France gave the other man a firm pat on the back with a kind smile. "It never has ended, and it never will end, I think. Not until the people find something that satisfies each and every one of them."  
  
"So, you're essentially saying never."   
  
"Well, I was trying to make you feel better, but you can choose to take it as you will."

**Author's Note:**

> So some factual and historical stuff, because homework and school have taken over my life so much that it extends into my writing. 
> 
> -The year is 1913, just before the outbreak of World War I.  
> -England is talking about the rampant nationalism that occured in Ireland from the late 1800s til the early 1900s. In 1913, so many radical Irish groups had gained power that Britain was on the verge of civil war.  
> -There have been several French revolutions--the large on beginning in 1789(ending with Napoleon) and another in 1848, which resulted in universal male suffrage.  
> -Britain passed a reform bill in 1867 for universal male suffrage.  
> -Industrialism, then imperialism, ect...Britain's colonies in Africa and India went through several periods of rebellion, such as the Boer War. They were quelled, but not the American revolution, as France points out.  
> -While the Civil War was long over at this point, ramifications could still be felt.  
> -Around this time socialism began to emerge as a legitimate political force, particularly in a budding united German state.  
> -The Franco-Prussian War occured in 1870, which united Germany.  
> -I think most of you know about 1905 and Bloody Sunday...soon after that the nation continued to be thrown more and more into civil unrest, and then the USSR was formed in 1922.  
> -On June 4th, 1913, Emily Wilding Davison threw herself in front of King Geroge V's horse at the Epsom Derby and was severly injured. She died 4 days later, and is considered an early martyr of the women's rights movement.


End file.
